Jarren Duran's late two-run homer powers Red Sox past Rays

At his best Jarren Duran is a game-changing talent, but this year the speedy outfielder has rarely been at his best against lefties. His struggles had reached a point where on Tuesday Red Sox manager Alex Cora batted him eighth against a lefty despite the club’s recent offensive malaise.

But facing one of baseball’s toughest southpaws on Friday, Duran uncorked arguably the biggest swing of the season.

Duran took Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Garrett Cleavinger deep for a towering two-run home run in the top of the seventh, flipping what had been a one-run deficit into a one-run lead late in the Red Sox’s eventual 11-7 win.

The Red Sox piled on seven more runs in the top of the eighth, ensuring a badly needed victory coming off a disappointing series loss at home to a beatable Athletics team.

Boston also got a strong start from Garrett Crochet, though home runs continued to be an issue for the Red Sox ace.

After the Rays and Red Sox traded runs with RBI singles by Nick Fortes in the bottom of the first and Nathaniel Lowe in the top of the second, Crochet served up a couple of long balls that twice allowed Tampa Bay to pull back ahead.

The first came on a solo shot by Carson Williams in the bottom of the second, and after Alex Bregman tied the game with a bomb of his own in the third, Yandy Diaz took Crochet deep to make it 3-2 Tampa Bay.

Dating back to July 26, Crochet has now allowed 14 home runs in his last 10 starts. Prior to that Crochet had only allowed 10 home runs through his first 21 starts.

Beyond those miscues Crochet did his job. The left-hander allowed three runs over six innings with four hits, three walks and nine strikeouts. It was his 21st quality start of the season, and overall he is now up to 249 strikeouts.

Assuming he records at least one more before the end of the regular season, Crochet is set to become the first left-hander in MLB to tally 250 strikeouts since Chris Sale had 308 for the Red Sox in 2017.

Still, the Red Sox trailed 3-2 when he left the game, and the Rays bullpen isn’t a group you want to face when you’re playing from behind.

Rays righty Griffin Jax sent the Red Sox down 1-2-3 in the sixth, and in the seventh the club had to deal with Cleavinger, who entered the day with a 2.03 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 57.2 innings.

Ceddanne Rafaela started things right with a leadoff single, but that brought up Duran, who is batting .211 against lefties on the season.

Didn’t matter. Duran obliterated a 1-0 sinker 385 feet to right field to put the Red Sox ahead.

After that, the floodgates opened.

The Red Sox put together their best offense inning in ages in the top of the eighth, sending 13 men to the plate and scoring seven runs. Romy Gonzalez started the fun with a leadoff double, Nate Eaton extended the lead with an RBI single and Rafaela tacked on another of his own.

After that the Rays went into a full-on tailspin, committing two errors in the inning while allowing runs to score on a bases loaded walk and hit by pitch.

By the time the inning was over the Red Sox led 11-3. That cushion came in handy when left-hander Chris Murphy allowed a grand slam to Everson Pereira in the bottom of the ninth that added some unnecessary drama, but the Red Sox were eventually able to finish the job.

Fittingly the Rays were officially eliminated from postseason contention with the loss, while the Red Sox finally have a chance to catch their breath knowing that for at least one night they’d kept the hard-charging Cleveland Guardians at bay.

Bregman, Rafaela star

This has been a rough stretch for Bregman and Rafaela, whose recent struggles have played a sizable role in the offense’s prolonged slump.

Both looked much better on Friday. Bregman went 1 for 3 with a home run and two walks, while Rafaela went 4 for 5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.

Slaten steps up

On paper Justin Slaten is one of Boston’s best relievers, but the right-hander hasn’t been a factor for long stretches of the year thanks to a shoulder injury that sidelined him for nearly three months.

Slaten was clearly rusty for the first two weeks since returning on Aug. 29, but now he’s finally beginning to round into form.

The righty pitched a perfect seventh inning with two strikeouts, giving him three straight scoreless appearances dating back to Wednesday. Slaten has retired the last 10 batters he’s faced, and if that continues then he could pair with Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock to form one of the most dominant late-inning trios in baseball.

Abreu to rejoin team

Prior to Friday’s game, Cora told reporters in Tampa Bay that outfielder Wilyer Abreu’s latest round of workouts in Boston went well and that he would be flying to Florida on Saturday.

Barring any setbacks, Abreu could potentially be activated in time for Saturday’s game.

Abreu has missed more than a month with a right calf strain suffered on Aug. 17 against the Miami Marlins. Even after missing so much time the Gold Glove right fielder still ranks second on the team with 22 home runs on the season and could potentially give the Red Sox offense a major lift.